Baseball game

ABSTRACT

This invention pertains to a baseball game which provides a game board, including indicia generally representative of a typical baseball diamond, two sets of dice, one representing each team and a compartmented &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;dug-out&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; tray for each set of dice. Each set of dice is of a distinctive color and includes nine dice, representing the nine regular batters, and one dice representing a pitcher, one a relief pitcher and one a pinch hitter. All of the dice contain indicia on each facet which indicates various circumstances occasioned during the active playing of a baseball game. The game is controlled generally by rolling the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;pitcher&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; dice of the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;out&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; team and the indicia appearing on the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;up&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; side of the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;pitcher&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; dice sequentially controls the fate of the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;batter&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; dice of the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;up&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; team as they come to bat in a prearranged batting order. The game progresses and is scored in general accord with regular baseball rules.

United States Patent 1 La Monica 54] BASEBALL GAME [76] Inventor: JohnLa Monica, 3387 Mary St.,

Coconut Grove, Miami, Fla.

[22] Filed: Apr. 5, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 131,249

OTHER PUBLICATIONS All Star Baseball Mfg. by Cadaco-Ellis lnc. see Sears1968 Christmas Catalog p. 468 and Playthings 4/60, page 3.

[111 3,73451 1 May 22,1973

Primary Examiner-Anton O. Oechsle Assistant ExaminerPaul E. ShapiroAttorneyJohn Cyril Malloy [57] ABSTRACT mented dug-out" tray for eachset of dice. Each setof dice is of a distinctive color and includes ninedice, representing the nine regular batters, and one dice representing apitcher, one a relief pitcher and one a pinch hitter. All of the dicecontain indicia on each facet which indicates various circumstancesoccasioned during the active playing of a baseball game. The game iscontrolled generally by rolling the pitcher dice of the out team and theindicia appearing on the up side of the pitcher dice sequentiallycontrols the fate of the batter dice of the up team as they come to batin a prearranged batting order. The game progresses and is scored ingeneral accord with regular baseball rules.

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SWING S RIKE STRIKE QNIMS BXIHJS BASEBALL GAME STATE OF THE PRIOR ARTMany types of baseball games have been devised in the past ranging from,a pin ball type of game in which a small ball is released and directedtoward a batter, to games controlled by cards having printed indicia andbattery operated devices which spin dials which contain indicia,directed to various circumstances which arise during the progress of aball game. Many of the games were quite complicated and expensive tomake, some more unrealistic in concept and became boring to theparticipants after a short period of time because the outcome was leftcompletely to change, providing no actual control of the respectiveteams by the participants. Other baseball games provided unrealisticallyhigh final scores and still others provided means which made scoring sodifficult it dimmed the interest of the participants.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The baseball game of the presentinvention was devised to provide a game which is generally playedaccording to regular baseball rules and provides realistic scores inaccord with those occurring in real baseball games. This inventionfurther provides a baseball game in which each participant has a lineupof nine batters, each having different batting averages, the averageresults obtained by each batter?batter"being substantially commensuratewith his average. In this manner, varying results can be obtained byvarious arrangements of the batting order, thereby providing interest tothe game by introducing an element of skill in devising the mostproficient batting order as determined by the respective battingaverages of each player.

Each batter is represented by a dice and each team includes nine dicerepresenting the nine batters, one dice for the pitcher, one for arelief pitcher and one for a pinch hitter.

Each dice has six facets and each of the batter dice contain indicia oneach facet which indicates various circumstances which may result from atime at bat. Each dice has a different batting average and the indiciaon the dice is determined by the batting average, the higher the battingaverage, the more favorable are the results provided by the indiciathereon.

Each pitcher and relief pitcher dice provides indicia on each facetwhich indicates either a strike or a swing. The game consists of nineinnings with each team having an up at bat and an out in the field turnin each inning. The participant representing the out team rolls hispitcher" dice and if a strike appears on the top facet for threeconsecutive rolls the up" batter is struck out, if it indicates a swing,the participant, representing the up team, rolls the batter dice"positioned at home plate, and the indicia appearing on the top facetindicates the results of that time at bat. The batter" dice provide avariety of indicia indicating a variety of results ranging from, strikeouts, walks, various kinds of hits ranging from singles to a home run,and various conventional kinds of outs." Some facets includesupplemental indicia to determine the fate of base runners, forinstance, when the batter" hits a single or double or grounds or fliesout.

The pinch hitter dice contain indicia similar to the regular batter"dice and the game progresses according to regular baseball rules andruns are scored and outs made as dictated by the dice indicia.

Each team is provided with a compartmented dugout tray for all of itsplayers, each tray providing two parallel rows of compartments formaintaining the batting order in its preselected order at all times aswell as removable tabs indicating the batting averages for therespective player dice. Additional space is provided in each tray forthe pitcher, relief pitcher and pinch hitter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of thebaseball game board of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a compartmented dug-out tray with thevarious player dice and batting average tabs contained therein;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of a portion of the game board, indicatingthe manner in which a typical player dice is nested within a cut-outrecess as provided at home plate and first, second and third bases;

FIG. 4 is a layout view of a typical batter dice; and

FIG. 5 is a layout view of a typical pitcher" dice.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In the drawings in which likereference numerals designate like or similar parts throughout thevarious views, the numeral 10 generally indicates the game board of thepresent invention which includes indicia generally representative of atypical baseball diamond. The infield is indicated at 12, the outfieldat 14, the fowl lines at 16 and 18, the catchers box 20, the pitchersmound 22 and cut-out recesses 24, 26, 28 and 30 indicating home plateand first, second and third base respectively.

FIG. 2 illustrates a typical compartmented dug-out tray 32 containingall of the dice 34 representing one baseball team. It is to beunderstood that at least two trays 32 and sets of dice 34 are providedwith the game, however, as they are exact duplicates only one has beenillustrated which will be described in the singular.

The tray 32 provides a bottom wall 36, front and back walls 38 and 40, alongitudinal partition 42 and a plurality of transverse partitions 44which divide the main body portion thereof into two parallellongitudinal rows of 9 compartments each, the front row compartmentsbeing designated 46 and the back row compartments 48.

Each team 34 includes nine batter dice 50 which are normally positionedin one of the rows, preferably the front row, at the start of the game.A slide way 52 is provided in the front of the tray adjacent eachbatter" dice which is adapted to removably receive a tab 54 whichdisplays the batting average 56 of each of the batter dice.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, each batter dice also displays a battingaverage as at 58 and the batting average tabs 54 are disposed relativeto the batter dice to indicate the batting average displayed on therespective dice 50.

Each batter" dice provides six facets and, as illustrated by the layoutview in FIG. 4 of one of these dice, each facet indicates the battingaverage of that particular dice such as 0.345. In addition, each facetof each batter dice provides indicia 60 presenting the result of onetime at bat. The indicia 60 in addition to indicating the direct resultto the batter dice, indicates,

when necessary, the resulting action of base runners. For example, whena batter walks, triples or hits a home run, the resulting action of baserunners is well known by anyone familiar with baseball, but when abatter dice hits a single, double, flies or grounds out, the advance, ifany, made by base runners is variable and in all such circumstances isindicated on the batter dice as seen in FIG. 4. Various other plays suchas ground outs", force outs, double plays", etc. are indicated.

While a layout is illustrated for only one of the batter dice, each oneprovides indicia on all six facets indicating various results of a timeat bat, however, as illustrated in FIG. 2, each batter dice is providedwith a different batting average" and in keeping with the game ofbaseball, the indicia on the high batting average dice provides morefavorable results, providing more hits and runs, than the lower averagedice. For instance, on the 0.345 average dice illustrated, five of thesix facets provide favorable results while the lowest batting averagedice may provide but one facet indicating a favorable result with theintermediate average dice providing favorable results in directproportion to their respective averages.

Each tray 34 provides an enlarged end compartment 62 for a pitcher dice64, relief pitcher dice 66 and a pinch hitter dice 68. The pinch hitterdice contains indicia much like the regular batter dice but may notinclude a batting average. As illustrated in the layout in FIG. 5, eachpitcher dice preferably provides swing or strike on all six facets. FIG.5 illustrates the indicia on the regular pitcher dice, providing swingon three facets and strike on three facets, however, this proportion ofswing and strike facets may be varied on the relief pitcher, dice togive him an advantage over the regular pitcher dice. For instance strikemay be on five of the facets and swing" on only one.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the 0.345 batting average dice58 nested in one of the cut-out recesses such as 24 as previouslydescribed.

Two or four people can play the game, if four play, they act as twoteams of two. One pitches for each team and acts as score keeper whenhis team is up and the other player for each team handles the batters".

Each of the team dice comprising the nine regular batters" may be of adistinctive color and the regular pitcher," pinch hitter and reliefpitcher may likewise be of various distinctive colors.

At the outset of the game, each side arranges any desired batting orderof nine batters" longitudinally in the front compartments 46 and placesthe tabs 54 respective to the batter dice to clearly indicate thebatting averages to their opponent or opponents.

Various methods can be devised to determine which team is at bat first,for instance one player may make a blind choice between two differentcolor dice with a prearranged color giving the player a choice or makingthe actual determination.

The batting orders are preferably arranged from left to right in theopponents respective trays 34. The person representing the team which isat bat places his lead off batter" dice in the recess 24 at home plateand his opponent rolls his pitcher" dice. If a strike appears on the topfacet thereof he continues to roll the pitcher dice until he eitherthrows three consecutive strikes, or swing" appears on the top facet. If

swing appears before three strikes are thrown the person representingthe batter picks his dice out of the home plate recess and rolls it anddoes whatever is indicated on the top facet of his batter dice. Thisprocedure is followed by both sides for nine innings and outs are madeand runs are scored as provided by the indicia on the batter dice aspreviously described and the team scoring the most runs wins, with extrainnings being played to bring the game to a decision in the event of anine inning tie.

Each time a batter is out or scores, the dice are sequentially placed ina compartment of the back row of the dug-out tray corresponding to thefront row compartment from which it was removed, so that the entirebatting orders eventually are positioned in the back row at which timethe process is reversed and the dice are sequentially moved back to thefront row after each out or run. This facilitates retaining the samebatting order throughout the game.

The dice always indicate the action of the runners on base undercircumstances when the amount of advance by a runner or runners is indoubt.

Various rules may be applied to the game regarding the insertion of apinch hitter or relief pitcher for instance, the pinch hitter mayreplace any batter in the line up from the beginning of the sixth inninguntil the end of the game. He remains in the line up and takes hisregular turn in the order of the hitter be replaced. Another rule couldprovide for the pinch hitter dice to be rolled immediately without beingpitched to.

As stated previously, the relief pitcher dice may provide five strikefacets and only one swing facet, in which event both sides would belimited to using the relief pitcher dice for any two innings of thegame, but in only two innings after the opposing team has scored atleast one run in the inning.

While a preferred form of the present invention has been illustrated anddescribed, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that variouschanges and modifications can be made therein without departing from thetrue scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1: The structural elements of a baseball game comprising,

A. a game board providing 1. indicia representing a baseball diamondincluding, a. a path defined by home plate and first, second and thirdbase positions;

B. at least two sets of play pieces representing two baseball teams,each set including at least nine play pieces, representing batters, forindividual movement about said path,

C. at least one play piece representing a pitcher,

D. each of said batter and pitcher play pieces comprising a diceincluding six facets, and various indicia on each of said facetsindicating respectively a result of a time at bat or a pitch by apitcher, and

E. a compartmented tray for each of said sets of dice providing frontand back longitudinal, parallel rows of compartments, each of saidcompartments being sized to receive one dice with each row providing onecompartment for each of said batter dice.

2. The structural elements of a baseball game as defined in claim 1 inwhich a portion of said indicia on each of said facets of each of saidbatter dice comprises a batting average.

3. The structural elements of a baseball game as defined in claim 2including a plurality of tabs and means adjacent each of saidcompartments in said front row for slidably receiving one of said tabs,each of said tabs including indicia consisting of a batting averagecorresponding to the batting average of said batter dice in saidadjacent compartment.

4. The structural elements of a baseball game as defined in claim 1 inwhich each of said sets of dice includes one dice representing a reliefpitcher and one tinctive color.

1. INDICIA REPRESENTING A BASEBALL DIAMOND INCLUDING, A. A PATH DEFINEDBY HOME PLATE AND FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD BASE POSITIONS; B. at leasttwo sets of play pieces representing two baseball teams, each setincluding at least nine play pieces, representing batters, forindividual movement about said path, C. at least one play piecerepresenting a pitcher, D. each of said batter and pitcher play piecescomprising a dice including six facets, and various indicia on each ofsaid facets indicating respectively a result of a time at bat or a pitchby a pitcher, and E. a compartmented tray for each of said sets of diceproviding front and back longitudinal, parallel rows of compartments,each of said compartments being sized to receive one dice with each rowproviding one compartment for each of said batter dice.
 2. Thestructural elements of a baseball game as defined in claim 1 in which aportion of said indicia on each of said facets of each of said batterdice comprises a batting average.
 3. The structural elements of abaseball game as defined in claim 2 including A plurality of tabs andmeans adjacent each of said compartments in said front row for slidablyreceiving one of said tabs, each of said tabs including indiciaconsisting of a batting average corresponding to the batting average ofsaid batter dice in said adjacent compartment.
 4. The structuralelements of a baseball game as defined in claim 1 in which each of saidsets of dice includes one dice representing a relief pitcher and onedice representing a pinch hitter.
 5. The structural elements of abaseball game as defined in claim 4 in which each of said compartmentedtrays provides an enlarged compartment for the reception of said pitcherdice, relief pitcher dice and pinch hitter dice.
 6. The structuralelements of a baseball game as defined in claim 4 in which the dicerepresenting the pitcher, relief pitcher and pinch hitter are each of adistinctive color.